Friday 27 September 2013

Still waiting for those Mad Cows


There have been numerous comics over the years that reached the ideas stage and never progressed further for one reason or another. Odhams' sixth 'Power Comic' Spitfire, Marvel's original 1960s Starhawk, Oink spin-off It's Potty... and even my own Mad Cows from Mars

Mad what from where? Back in 1997 I self-published the Combat Colin Summer Special 1967 (produced in '97, set 30 years earlier) and within its pages I announced that my next project would be Mad Cows from Mars, "Coming in '98 - or maybe 1999". (See the ad from that issue, reproduced above.)

Due to my professional strip work and various other commitments I never did get around to doing it, so all that exists was the published promotional artwork shown here. Maybe one day I'll find the time to develop it further. What do you think? 

9 comments:

Peter Gray said...

Maybe in a parallel world those exsist But Oink, Smash, Pow!, Wham! etc didn't exsist...though we got the better deal...;0)

Anonymous said...

LOL looks and sounds hysterical Lew like the idea a lot very much English type humour, the sort of strip I like- yep go for it - I notice companys like IDW , Boom etc doing a lot of kids/cartoon comics although mostly licensed work I think your stillwould be their cuppa tea - McScotty

Lew Stringer said...

Thanks McScotty. I don't think I've ever tried getting work in American comics. (I did Brickman for Elephantmen at Image but I was commissioned to do that by Richard Starkings. Can't recall ever pitching ideas to US publishers.) Don't fancy drawing licensed comics but it depends what it is. Might give it a go sometime.

Manic Man said...

looks interesting, though not too much to judge on ^_^;
though, just a comment, with Marvel's Starhawk, we did get the cover and first 7 pages (printed in Marvel Mania much later

John Pitt said...

I had never heard of a 6th proposed Power comic,Spitfire before! What can you tell me about it, Lew? Obviously, Captain America would have had to been in it? But who else? Perhaps Ant-man and the Human Torch/THT& The Thing? I'd love to see a mock-up of cover#1!!

Lew Stringer said...

Thanks for the info that they were used in Marvelmania, Manic. I did a bit of Googling and found the unused Starhawk pages on this fine blog: http://ripjaggerdojo.blogspot.co.uk/2009/12/coming-of-starhawk.html

Lew Stringer said...

I'm not sure if any Marvel reprint would have figured in the pages of Spitfire, John. I'm only going by what Mike Higgs and Steve Moore have told me but as I understand it, Spitfire was to have been more traditional, like Lion or Victor, with war and sports stories. Mike Higgs produced a two page humour strip called 'Captain Blueblood' about a character in a pith helmet and red military jacket having adventures in the jungle, but it was never published. (Unless it eventually turned up in an IPC annual somewhere?)

TwoHeadedBoy said...

What happened to the thing about the unreleased Oh No! comic? Got excited when I saw the link to that in my bloglist...

Lew Stringer said...

I'm going to re-post it at a later date when I have more info.